Monday, December 20, 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Statewide, Republicans make up 37% of the registered voters. Any statewide candidate running on the Republican ticket needs to move enough Democrats and Independent voters to get an additional 13%+1 vote to be successful.

Conversely, Democrats make up 51% of the registered voters in Pennsylvania. For a Democrat to win, all they need do is hold onto and turn out their base.

Any candidate would be happy with a 54% win. But, to accurately gauge a county’s success or failure in an election, you need to look beyond the win/loss column. Instead, it is better to look at how much ground that particular candidate gained above their party’s registration.

For instance, for a Democrat to win 78% Democratic Philadelphia County by 54% or a Republican to win 62% Republican Snyder County with 54% of the vote is no great accomplishment. In fact, it would indicate a breakdown in their campaign. But, for the minority party to win either county in this example, would be a tremendous victory.

So, a look at our NEPA Counties:

As stated earlier, PA is 37% Republican and Corbett received 54% of the vote or +17%.

When taken together, NEPA’s 17 counties are 40% Republican and Corbett received 60% of the vote or +20%.

Of the 50 PA counties over-performed that 17% above registration gain, 11 were in NEPA.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Saturday, October 23, 2010

As the 2010 Elections come to a close you are very likely to hear a great deal about taxes.

Some facts to balance the rhetoric…

In 2008, the US Federal Government took from its people about $2,500,000,000,000 in taxes.

Of that tax money:The top 1% of wage earners paid 38.02% of taxes.The top 5% of wage earners paid 58.72% of taxes.The top 10% of wage earners paid 69.94% of taxes.The top 25% of wage earners paid 86.34% of taxes.The top 50% of wage earners paid 97.30% of taxes.The bottom 50% of wage earners paid just 2.7% of taxes.

Now, if you listen to the Liberals, they will make it seem like until you get to the bottom 50%, these are all fat cats that live on cigars, scotch, and caviar.

How did we get here, particularly considering the Constitution limits (the way the Constitution was written, if a tax could not be apportioned among the states or based on the census information for each state, it was unconstitutional) direct taxation? Simple, the politicians amended it with the 16th Amendment.

As with any amendment, in order to amend the Constitution, a super majority of ¾ of the states (36 of the 48 states at the time of passage of this amendment) would be required to ratify an amendment. Pennsylvania was not one of the states to ratify the 16th Amendment. Pennsylvania’s legislature didn’t even consider it.

Go Pennsylvania!

Anyway, the original proposed tax in 1913 had a sliding scale from 1% to 7% for taxpayers that made in excess of $500,000. As it originally stood, less than 1% of all wage earners paid income taxes.

With the passage of the 1916 Revenue Act just three years later, it was more than doubled with a sliding scale from 2% to 15% making the threshold for the 15% bracket a person having $1,500,000 in income to qualify. The 1916 Revenue Act also brought in an estate tax and “excess” business profits tax.

As a side note, isn’t it reassuring to know that the Federal Government has the discretion to decide how much profit you can make before it is “excess” profit?

In 1917, a taxpayer earning $40,000 in income faced a 16% tax rate and an individual with $1,500,000 in income faced a 67% tax rate.

In 1918 yet another expansion of taxes was passed moving the bottom rate to 6% and the top rate to 77%.

In five short years, the top rate went from 7% to 77%.

Does that inspire trust in you?

Didn’t think so.

If nothing else, it is a perfect example of the lunacy of United States tax policy and the inability of the few to manage effectively what they take from the many. 7% to 77% in five years and now they directly take from you over $2.5 trillion dollars a year…well, from 64% of you anyway.

Our situation is worse today as demonstrated above and looks to get worse in the future as demonstrated below with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

The expiration of the Bush tax cuts translates into a very large tax increase in the very near future…next year to be exact. Because of the failure of this Democrat-controlled government to renew the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, taxes will be raised on virtually all Americans.

Based on the tax tables freely available on the IRS website for form 1040s, if we return to the 2000 levels:

A single person, making $50,000 a year will see a $1,350 tax increase.A married couple, making $50,000 a year filing jointly will see a $1,512 tax increase.A single person, making $75,000 a year will see a $2,303 tax increase.A married couple, making $75,000 a year filing jointly will see a $3,074 tax increase.A single person, making $100,000 a year will see a $3,053 tax increase.A married couple, making $100,000 a year filing jointly will see a $3,824 tax increase.

So, when a politician says they are against the “Bush Tax Cuts” understand that what they are saying is that they are in favor of raising most of your taxes by hundreds or thousands of dollars a year – even if you are a family making $25,000 a year (taxes will rise by $715 annually.) They are using the boogey man of Bush to invoke your distaste for the name and hoping that it will spread to contaminate the policy.

Many of you against the Bush tax cuts are objecting to it because you now have developed an acute sensitivity to the debt and deficit.

We are certainly glad that you are now concerned with these items but suggest to you that instead of raising taxes on all of us, how about you step up in support of the wasteful, tax and spend politicians that you vote for and pay for it yourself?

You support the government control of our healthcare. You actually believe that it can somehow cost less to give healthcare to 30,000,000 Americans that don’t already have it. Worse, you believe that the inept, inefficient, bureaucratic nightmare known as the Federal Government can someone manage delivering babies when they cannot even manage delivering the mail.

You support the $787 billion taxpayer funded epic failure that goes by the aliases “stimulus” and “crap sandwich” with its $160,000 per job price tag.

And now you worry about the deficit? Good!

The Bureau of Public Debt’s website states that if you would like to pay more to the government to reduce the debt, you can do so. They are even nice enough to tell you how to make out the check and where to send it to. You can find it by clicking here and going to the bottom of the page.

May we suggest that you harness your newfound sensitivity to our economic future and start paying for the policies of your favorite politicians yourself and leave the rest of us alone – we are taxed enough already!

Mr. Duane Hammet is a union stagehand. His son currently serves this country in the Navy on the USS George H. W. Bush. Mr. Hammet wore a shirt and hat sporting the name of his son’s ship, proud of his son and his service to his country.

For this, he was fired.

That’s right, in these times of economic uncertainty, this man was fired for wearing clothing acknowledging a U.S. naval vessel in service.

Fired, no less, by his union.

After this intolerance was exposed, apologies were offered to the Dad by his union which fired him.

Another shining example of the outright hate and intolerance of the left for any divergence of thought or ideas. You can’t even wear a shirt or hat with the word “Bush” on it without the left taking your job.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

The Obama administration has been striking out at conservative ideological groups and their involvement in the 2010 elections throughout this entire campaign season.

Their biggest target to date was the Tea Party movement. Certainly, you have read or heard the liberal lilliputians who can’t help but throw the word “teabagger” into every other sentence that comes out of their mouths or nearly every post they make to their blogs.

Now, as the election comes to a close and prospects look bleak for the liberal lilliputians, they have found a new target…the Chamber of Commerce.

They rant and rave about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Citizens United case which, at its core, ruled that non-profit and for profit corporations as well as labor unions could use their money in communication for electioneering. So, groups like the Chamber of Commerce, SEIU, AFL-CIO, PSEAA, Teamsters, etc. could all use their money to electioneer if that is what they choose to do.

Getting back to the liberal’s desire to censor the Chamber of Commerce – the allegation is that foreign funds are being funneled into these groups to help Republicans. The foreign money comes because these groups operate outside of the US and collect dues so that money is poisoning the process. Worse, they argue, there is no disclosure of the donors to these groups which must be nefarious, right?

Absent from the dialogue is the admission that labor groups operate under these very same rules. Labor unions do not disclose their donors. Labor unions dump truckloads of cash into races to elicit a desired result. Labor unions operate outside of the United States.

Anyone read an attack on any of the labor groups using foreign money to influence an election? How about use money from foreign countries or foreign nationals? How about failing to disclose their donors? Calls for the union-endorsed to reject those endorsements?

Nothing.

Here is the deal with the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce has a $200 million budget. They accept somewhere around $100,000 a year from affiliates in other countries. That money is segregated and further, not used in any election efforts.

At the heart of the matter is free speech. Every group is a special interest group. Whether it be a labor union, think tank, or issue advocacy group. There is nothing and there should be nothing standing in the way of American citizens joining together to speak with one voice.

And, if you are going to be critical of this type of advocacy, by all means be consistent. Don’t cherry pick which groups should have rights under the Constitution and which ones shouldn’t. Especially when the only delineation between one group's speech and another group's speech is based on what they are saying.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Our elected officials have failed. Unemployment numbers are terrible despite promises that they would not rise above 8% if we just ate a crap sandwich (stimulus) and smiled. GDP has just been adjusted in the negative. The promised "recovery summer" never happened. Instead of cutting spending, both Harrisburg and Washington are looking for new ways to nickel and dime you without raising taxes directly in an election year.

Don’t let these career politicians, from Harrisburg to Washington and regardless of whether they are a Republican or Democrat, distract you from the job they have been doing so far. This election is critically important. Hold all elected officials accountable for their successes and failures and make a decision based on that.

And please, do not be hoodwinked by whatever schemes they concoct to take your eyes off of them. All of the career politicians will try to take the spotlight off of the jobs they are doing whether they be in Washington or Harrisburg.

With the unofficial start of the campaign season, Labor Day, the crap you have come to expect from them will undoubtedly get deeper. If they haven’t begun already, elected officials will now begin to parade around your towns with big cardboard checks and the prospect of a brighter future if you just vote for them one more time.

Don’t take the bait.

Remember that those cardboard checks represent your tax dollars. Remember that they didn’t do anything but the absolute minimum of their job to bring that money back to their respective districts.

And, by all means, remember what they have done for you and your Country or State so far. Have they protected your freedoms? Have they listened, even if they disagree with you, when you have spoken? Are the accessible to you or only to their contributors? Will they hold town meetings where you can ask them anything you want? When you write to them, will they answer your question(s) directly or do they send you a ridiculous form letter at your (taxpayer) expense?

A perfect example is Paul Kanjorski. Mr. Kanjorski has represented NEPA for well over two decades. During his tenure he has promised such things as a monorail, moving sidewalks, Wall Street West jobs, rail service from NEPA to NJ, the inflatable dam in the Susquehanna and perhaps the one he would most like everyone to forget…water jet technology jobs ala Cornerstone Technologies.

His most recent offering, now that we have a bit of perspective, is an anti-terrorism training facility in Luzerne County. His claim is that it will bring 1,000 highly paid jobs to the area. Sounds good right? He did fail to mention that it will also bring in over 500 explosions a year, high speed car chases, live machine gun fire, and increased traffic on our already congested infrastructure. But hey, they are jobs right?

Oh, and when they tried to bring this project to Maryland, the residents basically chased them away with pitchforks and torches. Even their Democratic US Senator and Governor did an about face and opposed the project. That took a lot, particularly in this economy. It also bears mentioning that a big part of the funding for the project is your tax dollars from the Stimulus Bill-regardless of where they put it.

It is difficult to look at any opportunity for jobs in this terrible economy as a bad thing. But, considering the source, one really has to wonder whether this is just Kanjorski's latest flying pig or if it is just another of his white elephants.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

At a recent Tea Party, some people attended wearing military-type garb. They took positions within the Tea Party event and began making racist statements with a bullhorn. They invoked the national origin of some of the people there as well as their skin color. They also called for them to return to the place of their ancestry and leave America.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

US Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, recently rolled out a PSA focusing on pay fairness for both legal and illegal workers. In it, she asks the exploited to contact their office if their is a pay fairness issue.

It is virtually mathematically impossible to pay the debt we have today. Worse, our debt continues to grow and the President continually argues in favor of it expanding. The President, Congress, and Senate need to understand that we cannot spend money we do not have as Germany just did.

Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in an interview that the Obama Justice Department will file a federal lawsuit to overturn Arizona’s recently enacted law making federal immigration crimes, state crimes and making the federal requirement that immigrants carry identification at all times a state requirement as well.

Both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder both stated previously that they were considering taking action. Apparently, Clinton let the cat out of the bag.

Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is understandably furious. She bangs the administration for forcing her to find out of the impending lawsuit through viewing an Ecuadorian television with Clinton.

Mellow’s spokeswoman, Lisa Scullin, stated that she did not know what the focus of the raid was. Scullin also stated that she was sure that Mellow did nothing wrong.

Perhaps Mellow could release a copy of the search warrant to the media so that any confusion as to what the investigators were looking for could be dispelled.

Mellow announced earlier that he would not seek re-election.

John Blake is the Democratic nominee for the spot, Frank Scavo is the Republican.

Blake was unavailable for comment.

Scavo issued the following statement in a release:

“The raid on both Senator Bob Mellow’s home and office is yet another black eye for Northeastern Pennsylvania . Once again, a negative light is cast upon our area. Obviously, this investigation has to run its course and I have the full faith and confidence in our law enforcement professionals to see that this is done properly and without bias.

“However, John Blake was hand-picked by Senator Mellow himself to replace him in the Senate. I think the voters of the 22nd District demand and deserve to know the extent of Mr. Blake’s relationship with Senator Mellow and whether or not Mr. Blake still proudly accepts Mr. Mellow’s endorsement.”

Scavo is correct in the assertions of this statement. It is widely known that Blake received the full support of Mellow in his bid to replace him. The Scranton Times ran a photo of the two in an embrace in their post election coverage which was pretty hard to miss (front page above the fold.) If you look at the election results in the Mellow strongholds, it is evident that Mellow’s influence is impressive and wide-spread. This is particularly true in the Mid-Valley and Valley View sections of Lackawanna County.

Additionally, according to Campaign Finance Records, Blake was the recipient of:

$10,000 on 4/21/2010 from the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee$25,000 on 5/5/2010 from the Democratic State Senate Campaign$11,000 on 5/13/2010 from the Democratic State Senate Campaign$2,200 on 5/21/2010 from the Democratic State Senate Campaign

Blake clearly has the financial support of the Senate Democrats, of which Mellow is the Leader.

So, the question remains, what is Blake to do?

Blake’s friendship with Mellow is well known. He cannot deny their friendship and close association.

Mellow played a part in his electoral victory over some rather serious political players in Lackawanna County which is also widely known.

Blake’s campaign was also strongly supported financially by the Democratic State Senate Campaign. Will that support dry up if Blake turns his back on the Democrat in charge of the Democratic Senators?

Blake is not in a good position. The Feds just hit his political mentor’s home and office and all he has been able to do so far is avoid the media. That isn’t going to be an option for much longer. Especially since Scavo certainly will not avoid the media.

Blake’s decisions in the coming days will shape the dynamic of this race. If Blake fumbles, look for Scavo’s campaign to get a whole new lease on life.

Lastly, don’t be surprised if that photo mentioned earlier appears a few more times in this campaign. It will probably be the flag Scavo waves from here on out.

The Democratic-controlled house is currently pushing a measure to use just 20% of the proposed severance tax on shale drilling for host communities and the environment. The other 80% will be dumped into the Harrisburg black hole a.k.a. the general fund.

One estimate stated that $300 million could be raised by this tax. If that were true, Democrats want to take only $60 million and split it between protection of the environment and as an offset to costs incurred by host communities. They will keep the remaining $240 million for themselves.

Nice.

Not one person that votes for that kind of arrangement can call themselves an environmentalist, conservationist, or an honest politician for that matter.

This is being billed as a means to protect the environment and help our local communities yet they put forward a proposal where only a small percentage of the money will actually be used for that purpose.

This tax is a sham. All the Democratic House Leadership wants to do is shovel more tax money into their coffers. Hopefully, this will be transparent to the taxpayers. Every candidate for office should be asked why Harrisburg needs 80% of the new taxes raised on this and the communities and the environment only deserve 20%. It certainly cannot because they have done such a good job with the money they have been given so far.

Democratic Governor Rendell has been habitually late with his budgets. If he worked in the private sector, he would have been fired a long time ago. He and his Harrisburg cronies have consistently spent money they didn’t have and now they think they deserve more?

This is the worst case of three card monte being played on the taxpayers in a long time.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Yesterday, Democratic Governor Ed Rendell stated that the legislature should “man up” and pass tax increases to fill the $1.7 billion hole in the budget.

Opponents of tax Rendell’s proposed $300 million in tax increases say that this will have the inevitably further cripple the economy and raise unemployment. Rendell disagrees.

Where Fast Eddy got his economics degree, we don’t know. The argument that increasing taxes will in any way create jobs or protect jobs (outside of government jobs) is a joke and the same type of thinking that gave us the crap-sandwich a.k.a. stimulus bill.

Rendell’s stewardship of Pennsylvania has lead to increases in taxes, higher unemployment, and a ballooning deficit. Why should anyone trust his leadership now?

There was a great aggregation of studies on taxes. If our elected officials want to actually fix our economy, they should read it.

To summarize, several economists found that:

•Tax cuts boost economic growth more than government spending

• If your goal is to cut a deficit, you must cut taxes and decrease spending, not increase taxes or maintain spending.

• Tax increases hurt economic growth especially if used to maintain government spending.

• Tax rates are quickly approaching levels where they are so high that they actually net less money

Rendell’s plan in particular and the Democratic leadership’s plan in general does virtually nothing but raise taxes and fees. They do not substantially cut spending. They do not reform Harrisburg. And, they certainly do not create a pathway for Pennsylvania to begin its economic recovery.

Apparently, Democratic State Representative Kevin Murphy (113th) is taking Democratic Governor Ed Rendell’s advice and “manning up” on a severance tax. He is concerned that these companies are not paying their "fair share." Hey Kev, Pennsylvania has some of the highest and most regressive taxes for business. Everyone in business pays more than their "fair share" as is.

When you compare the proposals to the rhetoric you will see a careful and deliberate attempt to mislead the general public on what Harrisburg intends to do with this money.

First of all, proposals are not all about deep well shale drilling. They want to tax all gas extraction. Even short wells. So, if you have a short well on your farm, you will get pulled into this tax.

As far as what the money will be used for if Rendell has his way, a paltry 10% will be used to offset local problems and environmental concerns. 90% will be used to cover Harrisburg’s pensions and the money that is drying up from the aforementioned crap sandwich a.k.a. stimulus bill. So, the argument that this will be used to protect the environment and improve infrastructure in the host communities is almost (90%) an absolute lie.

If they want to pass a severance tax, 100% should be used to protect the environment, inspect wells, pay for cleanup if accidents occur, remove waste and slurry and improve the infrastructure of the host communities. Why isn’t anyone proposing that?

The answer is quite simple. A severance tax isn’t about cleaning up the environment, improving infrastructure, or regulating drilling. The severance tax is about injecting more money into the mismanagement that governs us in Harrisburg.

How can Kevin Murphy and the other Democratic “leaders” suggest that anything less than 100% of this tax should be used to protect the environment. A mere 10% and the rest should be dumped into a combination of the black hole of Harrisburg wasteful spending and pensions? That is an insult at best, more of the same from Harrisburg at worst.

Educate yourself on these proposals.

If you are concerned about the noble effort of conserving our resources, protecting our environs, and assisting host communities with the burden they bear for having this industry in their community this is not the answer. If Harrisburg wants a severance tax, everyone should demand that it be used for these purposes and for these purposes only.

Friday, June 4, 2010

In a profound demonstration of ignorance, some of the talking heads, including a local on WILK News Radio, were complaining that the textbooks our children learn from may soon strike the language that defines the United States as a “Democracy” and replace it with the term “Constitutional Republic.”

It has been asked “is this because they want to strike the word Democracy from our language because it sound like Democrat?” Or, was it “because the word Republic is closer to the word Republican?”

No, you can take your tin foil hat off, it isn’t because of that. It’s just because it is a fact.

The United States is a Constitutional Republic.

The Constitution of the United States guarantees to every state a Republican form of government. That is, no state may join these United States unless they are a Republic since the United States is organized into a Republic.

Article 4 Section 4 of the Constitution contains what is sometimes called the “Guarantee Clause.” It states:

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government”

As a matter of fact, when the founders developed the Constitution, they specifically wanted to avoid the formation of a Democracy.

If you read the Federalist Papers (you know, in books) James Madison states in No. 10:

“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

So, a word of advice – before you start spouting off about books and changes to the books that we teach our children with, you might actually want to read a book or two.

Children are indoctrinated with all sorts of crap in our schools. That is true. But this item, suggested in the changes by the Texans, is far from it.

The Department of Labor announced that payrolls rose by 431,000 jobs last month. The prediction was that we would have 536,000 new jobs but hey, when it comes to the government, being right 80% of the time isn’t bad right?

This creation of jobs caused the U3 unemployment rate to drop from 9.9% to 9.7%. Also good news right?

The short answer is no.

The vast majority (90%) of the 431,000 jobs were from the once-a-decade census. These are temporary jobs that will disappear in a few months.

And about that unemployment rate, the funny thing is, it doesn’t include the underemployed. You know, those folks that have had to pick up three part-time jobs to pay the bills. The U3 really only calculates the percentage of people who are unemployed but still seeking a job in the last four weeks. If you really want to know how many people cannot find a job or are woefully underemployed, you have to look at the U6 unemployment calculation. That, by the way, is 16.6%.

As we write this, the National Debt Clock shows that the National Debt is about $13,041,782,000,000. That is $42,149 per citizen and $118,273 per taxpayer in the US.

If almost 10% of the US’s able bodied workers cannot find a job and almost 7% are working at the nearest burger joint, how are they ever going to pay back their share of the thirteen trillion dollars?

Make no mistake, the Democrats in control of the White House, Senate, and Congress will have no choice but to raise taxes on everyone to pay this debt. And as far as that Obama promise not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 per year, think again. It is mathematically impossible.

According to the Federal Reserve, when you add up all of the physical money in circulation, the physical money held in bank vaults, all of the deposits banks have, all of the check accounts, all of the traveler’s checks accounts, retail money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and other money market-type accounts you come to about $8.5 trillion dollars. That’s about $4,541,000,000,000 less than the national debt.

That means the government could seize virtually every dollar in circulation and still not pay the debt. They simply cannot balance this debt on the backs of the rich. Nor can they do it on the backs of every citizen. This is the definition of out of control spending.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Butler County State Representative and Lieutenant Governor Candidate Daryl Metcalfe today proposed that Pennsylvania adopt legislation similar to that which Arizona recently passed.

Metcalfe is no Johnny-come-lately to the issue of immigration. A few years back, Metcalfe introduced the National Security Begins at Home package which included:

• HB 2761 which would have limited benefits from illegal immigrants with the exception of emergency medical services

• HB 2760 which would have increased penalties for employing illegal immigrants

• HB 799 encourage the President and Congress to immediately secure the nation’s borders

This law is a bit different than Arizona’s but the motivation is the same-the Federal Government’s abject failure to enforce the laws as it relates to immigration laws. Illegal immigration costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

Metcalfe’s law addresses many of the concerns with Arizona’s bill by prohibiting racial profiling, requiring another legal stop before verification of immigration status and increasing penalties for either transporting or hiring illegal immigrants.

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Republican State Committee drew first blood in the US Senate race launching an attack on Democrat turned Republican turned Democrat Arlen Specter. Their campaign, Fire Specter, launched its first ad.

The ad, Sell Out, is below.

The Democratic State Committee responded with its own ad against Republican Pat Toomey. The ad, Too Much Toomey - Full, is below.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Democrat Scranton City Council Member Janet Evans called out Democrat Mayor Chris Doherty on his claims that he fought to cut his pay (she claims he never did) and that he is in favor of cutting spending (she claims he never was in practice.)

She also point out that under Doherty's "leadership":

Debt increased to $316,000,000

Borrowed over $100,000,000 to balance Scranton's Budget

Raised taxes 25%

And that Doherty actually sued to stop Scranton City Council from cutting what they saw as the "fat" from Scranton's budget.

Described as “arguably the state’s most pro-gun legislator,” “as conservative as it gets,” and “a double-barreled booster for gun rights and the political right,” Metcalfe swore that as Lieutenant Governor, if the Governor ever tries to enact any gun control legislation he would run against him in the next Election.

He went on to say that if elected Lieutenant Governor, both parties would move to abolish the office since he refuses to be a silent side-kick.

Metcalfe was joined by NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre, Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt, former Texas lawmaker and national right-to-carry advocate Suzanna Hupp and several hundred pro-gun supporters at the event.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Pennsylvania Independent ran an analysis of campaign funding in Pennsylvania. The story reports that Democrat Paul Kanjorski is the dean of out-of-state cash in the congressional delegation.

According to the report, Paul Kanjorski pulled a shocking 57% of his campaign cash from out-of-state sources. Two big funding sources in the current cycle for Kanjorski were $46,000 from New York and $34,000 from Washington. For comparison purposes, Democrat Chris Carney only pulled 21% of his cash from out-of-state sources.

As for industry dollars, Kanjorski's largest supporters were the insurance industry followed by the securities and investment industries. Barletta's was from Leadership PACs and other candidates. O'Brien's was from lawyers/law firms followed by building trade unions.

The report also found that Democrat turned Republican turned Democrat Arlen Specter raked in the more out-of-state cash than Pennsylvania's other Senator, Bob Casey Jr. Specter pulled 47% of his funds from out-of-state sources. Casey, 36%.

A recent Pew Poll found that Americans are increasingly viewing their government as a threat to their liberties, not a defender of them.

The poll found that only 22% believe their government will do what is right most or all of the time. That is the lowest level recorded since 1994.

47% believe the government poses a threat to their rights and freedoms, 30% believe the government poses a major threat.

One of the larger corollaries to these types of questions is the economic condition of the country. After their bailouts that were supposed to create millions of jobs and keep unemployment at 8% (its now around 10%,) Congress focused its efforts on health care. Now, there is talk that they will tread into Immigration Reform AKA Amnesty. All the while, ignoring the economy.

These kind of numbers suggest a major problem for the Democrats in the mid-term elections. The last time these questions were asked and the numbers came out this way was right before the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

The Democratic Party is the party in power. The Democratic Party has had control of both the House and the Senate since the 2006 Elections. They have had control of the Presidency since the 2008 Election.

The "blame Bush" game simply isn't going to work in 2010.

The best chance they have of keeping absolute control is an improved economy. Too bad for them, everything they are suggesting (tax increases and unfunded mandates) will not improve the economy.

A new report, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Actuary, dealing with the estimated financial effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as Amended (AKA HCR) has some pretty scary findings.

The report states:

National Health care Expenditures will increase by $311 Billion under HCR

Health care increases to 21% of GDP by 2019

HCR actually spends more than $828 billion

18 million people will still be uninsured

The uninsured as well as businesses that do not offer insurance will pay $120 billion in new taxes

50% of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage Plans

Docs will not accept Medicare due to changes to reimbursement rates

I guess the only defense for something like this is that, despite what they say, there is no way most of the Congress men and women read this monstrosity. They probably didn't know it actually did what many had stated early on (especially those protesters that actually read the bill.)

The only bipartisanship in this bill was found in its opposition. The Democratic majority barely forced this bill through without a single Republican vote.

The Times Leader reports that Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski is catching some heat from every one of his opponents over official, taxpayer-funded staff being present at a campaign event.

The O'Brien campaign points out that Kanjorski staffers Karen Feather, Paul Maher, and Joe Werner were all present at the recent private Arlen Specter Avoca campaign event during the hours of 1:30 pm and 4:00 pm. For most folks, these are regular work hours.

The Kanjorski campaign directly addressed Werner attending the event but did not discuss Feather or Maher in published reports.

The Kelly campaign stated that they believed Kanjorski did everything "by the book" but wanted to see the reports to confirm this.

The Barletta campaign requested a log of the staffers time and stated that they hoped that official staffers working a reduced schedule were not still recieving full benefits and pensions.

Both Kelly and O'Brien are challenging Kanjorski for the Democratic nomination. Barletta seeks to challenge the victor of the Democratic Primary.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Back in March, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce held a forum for Pennsylvania’s Governor hopefuls. All six candidates attended.

One question raised was on the subject of allowing local municipalities to enact their own firearm ordinances.

A bit of background for perspective, Pennsylvania has a strict preemption clause in its Constitution. Because of this, municipalities are not allowed to legislate issues reserved for the state.

As it relates to firearms, this is good policy since it would create a patchwork of different firearm regs across the state. Unintentionally run afoul of one and you could end up in some serious trouble.

Additionally, Pennsylvania’s Constitution (you know, the document these guys all hope to swear to follow and defend) is pretty clear on the issue. Article 1 contains the Declaration of Rights. Section 21 states “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.” This language has been protected since the late 1700’s.

So, when asked about whether they believed local municipalities should be able to create their own firearm legislation, Democrat Jack Wagner and Republicans Tom Corbett and Sam Rohrer said no. The remaining Democrats in the race all stated that they did believe municipalities should be able to legislate their own gun laws.

Republican State Sen. Lisa Baker, of Lehman Township, was honored for her outstanding service at the first GOP Women In Politics Breakfast on April 17 at the Ramada Hotel, Public Square. The event was hosted by the Luzerne County Council of Republican Women.

The event honored all Republican women who are holding elected office at the state, county, school board and municipal levels.

Baker, 48, of Lehman Township, was presented the 2010 GOP Woman In Politics Award. Baker, a longtime party worker and committee person, is completing her first term in the Pennsylvania Senate where she represents the 20th District which includes parts of Luzerne, Monroe and Susquehanna counties and all of Pike, Wayne and Wyoming counties. She chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee and is a member of these committees: Aging and Youth; Appropriations; Communications and Technology; Environmental Resources and Energy; and Public Health and Welfare.

Baker is active in the community and serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Wyoming Valley; WVIA Public Broadcasting; and the advisory board of Penn State Wilkes-Barre.

She held top-level positions under governors Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker and was chief of staff to state Sen. Charles Lemmond.

A graduate of Dallas High School and Shippensburg University, she and her husband Gary have a son Carson.

Scranton, PA—Rose Ann Gaetano is seeking her 5th term on Republican State Committee. She was elected back in 2002 and served for the pass eight years representing Lackawanna County on the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee. Michael Narcavage is seeking his second term. Ms Gaetano and Mr. Narcavage are running as team.

Rose Ann Gaetano

Rose Ann, a resident of Dunmore, PA has been active in Republican Politics for over 30 years: severing as Republican Committee Women, member of the Margery Scranton Council of Republican Women, member of the PA Federation of Republican Women. She attended the Republican National Conventions in 2002, 2004 and 2008. In 2008, Rose was elected delegate and alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention. She was the top voter getter for both delegate and alternate delegate in the 11th Congressional District. She was elected by PA Convention Delegation to serve on the Rules Committee for the 2008 Convention.

Rose Ann is also active in the local community. She is a member of UNICO National Scranton Chapter. She recently services as co-chairperson of the groups community service day. Rose is also a member of the Dunmore Lions, Operation Honduras, Family to Family, Daffodils Days for America Cancer Society. She is also a member of Century Club in Scranton. She is a graduate of Dunmore High School, Lackawanna Beauty School and is employed by HarperCollins Publishers, Dunmore, PA. Rose Ann sees the Republican Party as the party of individual liberty, economic opportunity, limited government, personal responsibility and security at home and abroad.

Michael Narcavage

Michael Narcavage of Eynon is seeking re-election to his second term on the Republican State Committee of Lackawanna County. Michael has been working in grassroots Republican political campaigns for many years. He has worked on municipal and school board races as well as campaigns from the courthouse, state house, U.S. House and White House. Michael began his professional political career with former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. He worked for Santorum for ten years starting as an intern then becoming a full-time staffer: first as a caseworker, then as the Director of Community and Economic Development, and finally as a State Director. While working for the Senate, his region covered sixteen Pennsylvania counties in the Northeast and Lehigh Valley regions. This experience afforded him a depth and breadth of political knowledge in many regions of the Commonwealth. He now works for Chesapeake Energy as a Local Government Specialist in the Corporate Development Department. Prior to that, he served as the Borough Manager of Archbald Borough, where he remains a member of the Borough Planning Commission.

WILKES-BARRE - The Luzerne County Republican Party will hold a voter registration drive at eight locations across the county on Saturday.

Drive Chairman Walter Mitchell says the volunteers will be prepared to help any county resident complete the forms, regardless of their chosen party affiliation.

“Naturally, we hope that registrants will align themselves with the party of honesty, transparency and fiscal responsibility, namely the GOP,” Mitchell said. “But this drive is designed to get as many people registered to vote as possible. We cannot change the status quo without the ability to cast a ballot.”

The deadline to register to vote in the May 18 primary election is April 19.

Dozens of volunteers will have all the materials necessary to register. Here are the locations and times:

Monday, January 11, 2010

With the entrance of Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta into the race for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District, CQ Politics has adjusted their handicapping from Likely Democrat to Leans Democrat.

The scale used is Strong Democrat to Likely Democrat to Leans Democrat to Tossup to Leans Republican to Likely Republican to Strong Republican.

This could be viewed as good news for both Kanjorski and Barletta.

Because Barletta has moved the race form a largely uncompetitive setting to a more competitive one, resources will likely be available to him that would not otherwise available. The same can be said of Democrat Incumbent Congressman Paul Kanjorski. The DCCC will do what they can to protect the seat from the Hazleton Mayor.

In NEPA’s other Congressional District, 10th District Democrat Congressman Chris Carney holds a Likely Democrat in CQ’s ranking. This is despite the entrance of Republican Commissioner Malcolm Derk.

Other potential contenders yet to officially announce are Dr. David Madeira of Luzerne County and former US Attorney Republican Tom Marino. Madeira stated that he intends to announce soon and Marino is rumored to be considering entering the race.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach has decided to exit the Gubernatorial race. According to an email from his campaign

"I entered the race for Governor in order to continue my public service, put forth new ideas for creating jobs, protecting our taxpayers, families and seniors and reinvigorating the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that we all love so much. I am not giving up on achieving those goals. I am, however, ending my campaign for governor.”

Republican Pennsylvania Attorney General and Republican Governor Candidate Tom Corbett has joined a gang of 13 States Attorney General challenging the constitutionality of the current Healthcare Bill.

Specifically, the challenge revolves around the provision in the Senate Healthcare Bill that protects Nebraska from having to pay the un-funded mandate of increased Medicaid spending. Instead, Nebraska’s increase would be paid by other states. The maneuver also known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” was reported to be necessary to secure the support of Democrat Senator Ben Nelson.

Other provisions of the bill have been challenged as unconstitutional, namely the government requiring a citizen to purchase a good or service or tax them as punishment. There is a good editorial on this topic at the Wall Street Journal.